Thy Rod and Thy Staff: The Shepherd's Rod and the Rod of Iron
Old Testament: Psalms 22:4
For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.
Old Testament, also: Psalms 2:9; Micheas 7:14
Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. ... Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy inheritance.
New Testament: Apocalypse 7:17; Apocalypse 19:15
For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall rule them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. ... And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword; that with it he may strike the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty.
The connection
David walks in the midst of the shadow of death and fears nothing, because of what the Shepherd carries: "Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me." In the second Psalm the same Lord gives His Anointed a rod of a different kind: "Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron." In Hebrew both are the one word, shebet, and Micheas joins the two uses in one line: "Feed thy people with thy rod." The rod that comforts the sheep and the rod that breaks the potter's vessel are the same staff in the same hand. The Greek makes it plainer. Where the Douay reads "rule" in Psalm 2:9 the Septuagint has poimaneis, thou shalt shepherd, and the Apocalypse keeps that verb every time it quotes the Psalm (2:27; 12:5; 19:15). He shepherds the nations with a rod of iron. And once the Apocalypse uses the verb without the iron. "The Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall rule them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life": poimanei again, the same word as the rod of iron, and here it is the Twenty Second Psalm fulfilled, the Shepherd leading His flock to the waters. One rod: the wolf feels it as iron, the sheep as comfort.
Moral sense
The rod is discipline, and it does not change when we do. What changes is whether we meet it as sheep or as wolves. The same correction that breaks the proud is felt by the humble as the Shepherd's nearness: "for thou art with me." To fear no evil in the shadow of death is to trust that the rod in His hand is the one that guards us.
Anagogical sense
At the end the rod of iron strikes the nations that would not be led, and the same Shepherd leads His own "to the fountains of the waters of life", where "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." The shadow of death ends at the throne, and the Shepherd there is the Lamb.
The Fathers
Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor I.7: "And by the same prophet He says: 'Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron.' ... And this same rod of instruction, 'Thy rod and staff have comforted me,' said some one else. Such is the power of the Instructor, sacred, soothing, saving."
Warrant
Patristic because Clement of Alexandria joins the two rods himself. In The Instructor I.7 he quotes "Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron" and then: "And this same rod of instruction, 'Thy rod and staff have comforted me,' said some one else. Such is the power of the Instructor, sacred, soothing, saving." St Cyprian (Testimonies II) renders Apocalypse 19:15 "which He shall shepherd with a rod of iron", and St Augustine (on Psalm 23) reads the rod as "Thy discipline, like a rod for a flock of sheep". The word links are checked in the site's texts: shebet in the Hebrew of Psalms 2:9, 23:4 (22:4 Douay) and Micheas 7:14; poimaneis in the Septuagint of Psalm 2:9; poimanei in Apocalypse 2:27, 7:17 and 19:15. The Hebrew of Psalm 2:9 as pointed reads "break them" (tero'em) where the Septuagint read "shepherd them"; the entry follows the Greek that the Apocalypse quotes.
The verses
Psalms 22:4 · Psalms 2:9 · Micheas 7:14 · Apocalypse 7:17 · Apocalypse 19:15
